This invention relates to a double retaining connector in which each terminal is retained in a double manner by a retaining lance, provided within a connector housing, and a retaining arm of a front holder.
One conventional double retaining connector is shown in FIGS. 14 to 16. The illustrated housing is a female one 102 of a pair of connector housings, and each female terminal 105, received in an associated terminal receiving chambers 102c in this female connector housing, is retained in a double manner by a retaining lance 102a, provided at an upper portion of the terminal receiving chamber 102c, and a front holder 103 attached to the female connector housing from the front side of the terminal receiving chambers 102.
Referring to the above double retaining construction in further detail, as shown in FIGS. 14 and 15, the plurality of terminal receiving chambers 102c are provided in two (upper and lower) rows in the female connector housing 102 made of a synthetic resin, and the retaining lance 102c is provided at an upper portion of each terminal receiving chamber 102c, and extends left (in the drawings) generally horizontally. With this construction, the female terminal 105, inserted and guided into the terminal receiving chamber 102c from the right side (FIG. 16), moves in the terminal receiving chamber 102c, with an upper surface 105b of its terminal portion 105a held in sliding contact with a lower end portion 102a.sub.1 of the retaining lance 102a, and finally when a rear end 105b.sub.1 of the upper surface 105b of the terminal portion 105a passes past the lower end portion 102a.sub.2 of the retaining lance 102a, the retaining lance 102a is elastically restored to an initial position, thereby effecting a first-stage retaining of the female terminal 105.
The front holder 103, like the female connector housing 102, is molded of a synthetic resin, and as shown in FIGS. 14 and 15, the front holder 103 is attached to the female connector housing 102 from the front side of the terminal receiving chambers 102c of the female connector housing 102. When the front holder 103 is inserted into a front end portion of the female connector housing 102, with its insertion-side end 103e directed toward the female connector housing 102, a provisionally-retaining projection 103g, formed on an upper retaining arm 103f, first slides past an upper retaining projection 102d of the female connector housing 102, and the front holder 103 is provisionally retained on the female connector housing 102.
In this condition, when the front holder 103 is further inserted into the female connector housing 102, with a front end 103d of a retaining arm 103a of the front holder 103 lifted in a direction of arrow C (FIG. 15), a retaining projection 103c, formed on the retaining arm 103a, is engaged with a lower retaining projection 102b formed on the female connector housing 102, so that the front holder 103 is fixed relative to the female connector housing 102. As a result, a distal end portion of the retaining arm 103a of the front holder 103 contacts an upper surface 102a.sub.3 of the retaining lance 102a, thereby preventing the retaining lance 102a from upward movement, and therefore the female terminal 105 is retained in a double manner relative to the female connector housing 102.
FIG. 15 shows a condition in which the female terminals 105 are retained in a double manner relative to the female connector housing 102. Right, left and lower slanting surfaces 102f are formed on a front end surface 102e of the lower terminal receiving chamber 102c of the female connector housing 102, and also a slanting surface 103b is formed on a front end surface 103h of the retaining arm 103a of the front holder 103, and these slanting surfaces 102f and 103b cooperate with one another to form a tapered guide portion 107 for an insertion port 106 through which a male terminal 104 is engaged with the female terminal 105.
In the above construction, as shown in FIG. 15, for engaging the male terminal 104, received in a male connector housing (not shown), with the female terminal 105, a front end portion 104a of the male terminal 104 is first guided into the insertion port 106 by the tapered guide portion 107, and is further moved into the terminal receiving chamber 102c in a direction of arrow D, and is engaged with the front end portion of the female terminal.
In the above conventional double retaining connector, however, when a distal end 104b of the front end metallic portion 104a of the male terminal 104 abuts against the upper slanting surface 103b during the insertion of the male terminal 104 into the terminal receiving chamber 102c as shown in FIG. 16, the retaining arm 103a can be moved upward in a direction of arrow E. As a result, the front end metallic portion 104a moves into the terminal receiving chamber 102c without being guided by the slanting surface 103b, and the distal end 104b of the front end portion 104a impinges on an upper portion of the front end surface of the front end portion (terminal portion) 105a of the female terminal 105, so that the male terminal 104 can not move further, and therefore the male terminal 104 can not be engaged with the female terminal 105.